"It would be a simple matter for the person who became its proud possessor to paste on another strip of paper when he had put in his new ball of twine."
"Any way you fix it," went on Helen, "there you have the general method of making round boxes from these mailing tubes."
"And you can use round boxes for a dozen purposes," said Margaret; "for candy and all the goodies we"re going to send the orphans."
"Are you sure they"ll keep?" asked careful James.
"Ethel Brown asked the domestic science teacher at school about that, and she"s going to give her receipts for cookies and candies that will last at least six weeks. That will be long enough for the Christmas Ship to go over and to make the rounds of the ports where it is to distribute presents."
"Of course we"ll make the eatables at the last minute," said Dorothy, "and we"ll pack them so as to keep the air out as much as possible."
"Give that flour paste a good boiling," Helen called after Margaret as she left the room to prepare it.
"And don"t forget the oil of cloves to keep it sweet," added Ethel Blue.
"These round boxes will be especially good for the cookies," said Ethel Brown, "though the string box would have to go to Father. A string box isn"t especially suitable for an orphan."
"If you split these mailing tubes lengthwise and line them inside you get some pretty shapes," went on Helen.
"Rather shallow," commented Della.
"If you split them just in halves they are, but you don"t have to do that. Split them a little above the middle and then the cover will be shallower than the box part."
"Right-o," nodded Roger.
"Then you line them and arrange the fastening and hinges just as you described for the string box?" asked James.
"Exactly the same. Another way of fastening them is by making little chintz straps and putting glove snappers on them."
"I don"t see why you couldn"t put ribbons into both cover and box part and tie them together."
"You could."
"You can use these split open ones for a manicure set or a brush and comb box for travelling."
"Or a handkerchief box."
"If you get tubes of different sizes and used military hair brushes you could make a box for a man, with a cover that slipped over for a long way," said Ethel Blue. "It would be just like the leather ones."
"You make one of those for Uncle Richard for Christmas," advised Ethel Brown. "I rather think the orphans aren"t keen on military brushes."
"Oh, I"m just talking out any ideas that come along. As Helen suggested, an idea is always useful some time or other even if it won"t do for to-day"s orphans."
"I saw a dandy box the other day that we might have put into Mademoiselle"s kit," said Roger. "It"s a good thing to remember for some other traveller."
"Describe," commanded James.
"I don"t think these round boxes would be as convenient for it as a square or oblong one. It had a ball of string and a tube of paste and a pair of small scissors, and tags of different sizes and rubber bands and labels with gum on the back."
"That"s great for a desk top," said Della. "I believe I"ll make one for Father for his birthday," and she nodded toward Tom who nodded back approvingly.
"A big blotter case is another desk gift. The back is of very stiff cardboard and the corners are of chintz or leather. The blotters are slipped under the corners and are kept flat by them," continued Roger, who had noticed them because of their leather corners.
"A lot of small blotters tied together are easy to put up," contributed Dorothy. "You can have twelve, if you want to, and paste a calendar for a month on to each one."
"I think we ought to make those plain boxes the boys have made for the dresses a little prettier. Can"t we ornament them in some way?" asked Ethel Blue.
"The made-over ones are all covered with fancy paper you remember," said Tom.
"I was thinking of the plain ones that are "neat but not gaudy." How can we make them "gaudy"?"
"Christmas seals are about as easy a decoration as you can get," Tom suggested.
"Pretty, too. Those small seals, you mean, that you put on letters. A Santa Claus or a Christmas tree or a poinsettia would look pretty on the smaller sized boxes."
"It would take a lot of them to show much on the larger ones, and that would make them rather expensive. Can"t we think up something cheaper?"
asked the treasurer.
"I"m daffy over wall paper," cried Dorothy. "I went with Mother to pick out some for one of our rooms the other day and the man showed us such beauties--they were like paintings."
"And cost like paintings, too," growled James feelingly.
"Some of them did," admitted Dorothy. "But I asked him if he didn"t have remnants sometimes. He laughed and said they didn"t call them remnants but he said they did have torn pieces and for ten cents he gave me a regular armful. Just look at these beauties."
She held up for the others" inspection some pieces of paper with lovely flower designs upon them.
"But those bits aren"t big enough to cover a big box and the patterns are too large to show except on a big box," objected Margaret who had come back with the paste.
"Here"s where they"re just the thing for decoration of the plain boxes.
Cut out this perfectly darling wistaria--so. Could you find anything more graceful than that? You"d have to be an artist to do anything so good. Paste that sweeping, drooping vine with its lovely cl.u.s.ter of blossoms on to the top of one of the largest boxes and that"s plenty of decoration."
Dorothy waved her vine in one hand and her scissors in the other and the rest became infected with her enthusiasm, for the sc.r.a.ps of paper that she had brought were exquisite in themselves and admirable for the purpose she suggested.
"Good for Dorothy!" hurrahed James. "Anybody else got any ideas on this decoration need?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Paste that vine on to the top of one of the largest boxes"]
"I have," came meekly from Ethel Brown. "It isn"t very novel but it will work, and it will save money and it"s easy."
"Trot her forth," commanded Roger.
"It"s silhouettes."
Silence greeted this suggestion.
"They"re not awfully easy to do," said Helen doubtfully.
"Not when you make them out of black paper, and you have to draw on the pattern or trace it on and you can hardly see the lines and you get all fussed up over it," acknowledged Ethel. "I"ve tried that way and I almost came to the conclusion that it wasn"t worth the trouble I put into it unless you happened to be a person who can cut them right out without drawing them first."